Sir Peter Lampl discusses the importance of apprenticeships in an article published in the Yorkshire Post:

We are on the verge of a revolution where employers start looking to real skills rather than degrees.

Going to university used to be an elite preserve. Today, nearly half of under-30s start a degree. But there is an irony in this apparent new egalitarianism: not all degrees are equal.

As university places grew, apprenticeships declined. But in countries like Germany and Switzerland, apprenticeships have high status. Working for Siemens, I found their engineering apprentices as well qualified as science postgraduates like me.

Now apprenticeships are enjoying a revival here but they suffer from two problems. Not enough are good enough. And not enough young people know what’s on offer.

Yet, good apprenticeships are a better deal than many degrees. New Boston Consulting Group research shows that completing the best apprenticeships (at level 5) can bring lifetime earnings £50,000 higher than a traditional 
degree at a new university, allowing for student debt and the chance to earn while you learn.

These are averages. You would earn £160,000 more from a Russell Group university, and recent Institute of Fiscal Studies research, drawing on tax data, has shown considerably higher earnings for the top tenth of graduates. Subject choice matters too: there are big earnings differences between engineering and medicine compared with creative arts degrees.

So, university is still a good deal for many, but access remains unequal. You are still eight times more likely to get to a top university where opportunities are best from a rich rather than a poor neighbourhood, which is why we run summer schools for sixth formers at our best universities.

But it is not a great deal for all. Earlier this month, Higher Education Funding Council for England research showed that one in five graduates was not in a graduate-level job three and a half years after graduation.

Read the full article here.

 

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